Balance In All Things
by Invisionary
Summary: A cosmic wrong needs to be righted, and Willow will do whatever it takes.


_Eye of newt, powdered black pearl, mandrake root..._

Willow removed each reagent from her backpack and set them on the floor in front of her with great care. They were followed by a small bronze bowl, which she placed on the small stand she had prepared for it. Lastly, she pulled out a pack of matches and lit the coals underneath the stand, blowing gently on the flame until it caught.

She watched the flame for a moment until she was satisfied it wasn't going to go out, then stood up. She glanced around the room, making sure that everything was in order.

She'd been vaguely surprised to find that the burned-out shell of the old factory that had been Spike and Drusilla's hideout all those years ago was still standing. But it suited her needs - it was deserted and the room in which she now stood was more-or-less intact and big enough for what she had planned.

Making her way to the center of the room, Willow carefully examined the mystic circles she'd drawn on the floor. The first was quite large - it took up more than half the floor area in the room. She'd set up another, much smaller circle inside the first, near the edge. Both were drawn in white and blue chalk and had magical runes situated around them at regular intervals.

She closed her eyes and reached out with her power, testing each rune for a final time. She began with the inner circle, and when she'd determined that everything was in order there, she moved on to the outer. That one took a bit longer, but soon enough she'd completed her checking there, as well.

Finally, she tested the failsafe she'd cast. This was another spell, woven in with the rest. In the event that the outer circle was breached, it would trigger an explosion powerful enough to obliterate the entire factory and anyone or anything within it. It had been a difficult casting, but given what she was about to do, she'd decided that it was necessary.

A soft clinking sound reached her ears, and Willow opened her eyes. She stared down at the figure that was chained to the floor, outside the small circle but within the larger one. Blinking rapidly and shaking his head, Andrew looked up at her, his confused expression quickly turning to fear as he took in his surroundings.

"What...? Willow? What's going on?" Andrew pulled at his chains, but quickly found that he couldn't move at all. Willow paid him no heed, instead walking back to the now-heated bowl and kneeling in front of it.

"This is a summoning spell," Andrew said, realization dawning as he noticed the magic circles and the reagents Willow had laid out. "Oh God," he moaned. "You're going to summon some demon to do horrible things to me!"

"Willow, please!" he exclaimed. "I'm sorry about your girlfriend, but I didn't kill her! It was Warren. Please don't hurt me!"

"Quiet," Willow hissed. "This isn't about you."

Andrew protested further, but Willow tuned him out. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She wasn't looking forward to using black magic again, but just this last time it was necessary.

Clearing her mind of all extraneous thought, she began chanting the arcane syllables of the summoning spell. She pronounced them carefully, adding each reagent to the bowl at the prescribed time. She felt the magic building within her as the spell progressed, finally exploding outward at its completion, the components she'd used disappearing in a bright flash.

And a creature that was straight out of a nightmare appeared.

The demon that materialized within the smaller circle was at least eight feet tall and powerfully built. Its entire body was jet black, save for its eyes, which glowed with a fell red light. Claws, horns, and tail completed the thing's dreadful appearance, and Andrew quivered in fear as the creature's gaze fell upon him.

Upon seeing the demon, Willow's resolve faltered for a split second. Was she...?

But she quickly pushed her doubts aside. If there had been any other way... But there wasn't. She'd spent endless hours in research, and this was the only option available to her.

The demon fixed its eyes upon Willow and spoke in a voice that was like the rumbling of a volcano. "For what purpose do you summon Braxtor, lord of the V'Rkahel dimension?"

Gathering her resolve, Willow met its eyes unflinchingly. "There is someone within your realm who does not belong there. One who suffers who should not."

She took a deep breath. "Her name is Tara Maclay."

Even now it was hard to even think about what had happened to Tara after her death. Willow still remembered her shock and horror when she'd learned about the ultimate fate of her love's soul.

During her time in England, with the coven, she had learned of a spell that allowed a person to look upon a loved one who had passed away. Initially she'd resisted the temptation to use it, but one night she simply hadn't been able to deal with all her pain and sorrow and knew that she _had_ to see Tara's face again. So she took the focusing crystal she'd been using for practice and cast the spell on it... and was utterly horrified at what she saw.

At first, she thought it must be a nightmare, or her mind playing tricks on her, or something. So she ran outside, not bothering to change out of her pajamas, out into the grove of trees by the coven's house. She sat down under a large oak tree and gathered her focus before casting the spell again.

And she saw the same thing. Her love, silently screaming in utter and complete agony as was alternately burned and flayed alive, over and over again.

Willow hadn't told the coven - or anyone - what she'd seen. But at that moment, she'd resolved to find a way to save Tara, no matter what it took.

_No matter what._

"There are none in my realm who do not belong there, witch," the demon said easily. It reached out with one arm and actually seemed a bit surprised when it couldn't push past the edge of the circle it stood in. Willow sensed magic gathering around it, but that, too, remained trapped inside her wards.

"That's not true, and you know it," Willow replied, her voice hard. "Tara's soul was pure. Good. She never should have ended up in your dimension."

Indeed, all her auguries had told her exactly that. Tara was supposed to have gone to a heavenly dimension, where she would live in eternal peace and contentment. But something strange was happening with the Powers That Be, and that had enabled the lord of one of the hell dimensions to reach out and snatch her soul before it could reach its final resting place.

She'd even tried to contact agents of the Powers, but none of them had answered her repeated calls for aid. Which left it all up to her to save Tara.

And she was going to save her.

"You more than anyone should know the importance of maintaining the balance," Willow continued, standing up and facing the demon lord resolutely. "That's what allows you to have absolute power within your own dimension. When you took a soul that didn't belong to you, you upset that balance."

"And now we'll set it right again. You will free Tara's soul - and in its place, take the soul of one who _does_ belong in your dimension," she finished, gesturing downward at the floor in front of her.

Andrew whimpered incoherently as the demon turned its gaze on him again. "You would damn this one to eternal torment to save the one you love?" Braxtor's tone was more amused than anything else.

"**I** don't damn him to anything," Willow said emphatically. "His own choices and actions do that." It was true - a simple divination spell had revealed that Andrew's crimes were more than enough to warrant whatever fate awaited him in the V'Rkahel dimension.

The demon stared at Andrew, its gaze seeming to penetrate his flesh. "True," it admitted at length. "But he might yet be redeemed. You would deny him that chance?"

"Who says he _deserves_ that chance?" Willow shot back. "Especially when someone who is **so** much better than he'll ever be is suffering?"

She shook her head. "I didn't summon you here to argue with you. This is the deal - a human soul for a human soul. You can accept it, or face the consequences when the Powers find out what you've done. And believe me, they _will_ find out - I'll see to it."

The demon looked her over for a moment, its expression inscrutable. Finally, it nodded slightly.

"Very well, witch. I will free the soul of the one you love..."

"No." Willow cut the creature off, and it stared at her in surprise.

"Just freeing her isn't enough," she continued. "I know you can control time within your dimension. You will release her the _instant_ she arrived. She was never there. Understand?"

The demon considered her words, then nodded again. It concentrated briefly, then looked up at her once more. "It is done."

Willow quickly reached into her pocket and removed her focus crystal. Concentrating, she cast the spell which would call up Tara's image. The crystal clouded over briefly before clearing once more, and she nearly wept with joy at what it showed her.

Tara walked through lovely green fields under a brilliant blue sky. Her face was relaxed; content. All trace of her earlier torment was gone, as if it had never been.

_She's safe,_ Willow thought. The relief that washed over her was nearly overwhelming. _She's safe, and she's happy. Oh God, Tara..._ She fell to her knees, clutching the crystal to her chest, her heart racing with the knowledge that she'd succeeded.

"I have fulfilled my part of the bargain, witch," Braxtor rumbled, the creature's voice wrenching Willow out of her thoughts. "Now it is time for you to fulfill yours." It looked at her expectantly, flicking one claw against the wards that held it.

"No," Andrew whispered, looking at her pleadingly. "No, please..."

Willow briefly contemplated banishing the demon right now. She could do it - but the problem was, if she sent it back without repairing the balance, it would leave it free to act against her. The demon lord's vengeance would be terrible, and it wouldn't just fall on her. She could protect herself - but Buffy, Xander, and Dawn would pay the price for her actions.

And she couldn't let that happen.

With a single nod, she spoke the words to deactivate the inner magic circle. Braxtor strode forward and, without preamble, thrust one hand down and _into_ Andrew's chest, its claws passing through clothing and flesh both without marking either one. Andrew's back arched upward, his face contorted in agony, and Willow quickly averted her eyes.

_Don't look up._

She stared down at the crystal in her hands, doing her best to ignore the whimpers she heard and the powerful dark magic she felt being worked.

_Don't look up - he's a murderer and more besides. He deserves this._

Willow fixed her eyes on Tara's face, concentrating on her love's image, trying to push everything else out of her mind.

_Oh God, __don't look up._

Andrew uttered a long, ghastly scream, and Willow closed her eyes tightly, fighting back a wave of nausea.

Finally, she chanced a glance upward, taking in the sight of Andrew's lifeless body. Standing over him, the demon was examining a ball of glowing mist it held in its hand. It was golden in color, but marred with large patches of sickly-looking black and red. The creature turned it over in its hands, looking at Andrew's soul from all angles. Finally, Braxtor nodded once and spoke a harsh, guttural word, and the soul disappeared in a small burst of flame.

Pushing all thoughts about what she'd just seen away, Willow stood once more. "The balance has been restored," she said. "You will not upset it again. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Braxtor strode toward her, stopping the edge of the large circle, just a few feet away. Willow didn't flinch, however - the wards in this circle were even stronger than the ones in the first.

"And I will be watching you as well," the creature intoned.

Willow shook her head. "You know the rules as well as I do," she said. "You can't hurt me now."

"True," the demon replied. "But as you say, his choices and actions damned him." It gestured toward Andrew's lifeless body on the floor behind it. "Your own can do the same to you, witch. You stand on a very fine line - the smallest misstep could send you plummeting to your own eternity of torment."

"It'll never happen," Willow said with more conviction than she actually felt. She refused to let this creature intimidate her.

The demon laughed, and it was so purely evil a sound that it made the hairs on the back of Willow's neck stand up. "We shall see, witch," it declared, stepping back toward the center of the circle. "We shall see."

And with that, the demon vanished in a fiery burst. Willow stared at the center of the circle for a long moment before casting a quick divination spell. After satisfying herself that the demon was gone, she turned away from the circle and headed for the door.

Stopping in front of the door, she took one last look at the crystal in her hand.

_Goodbye, Tara._

Then she set the crystal down on the floor and opened the door. Passing through it, she tossed a final blast of power into the room behind her.

And then she exited the building, striding out into the night, never once looking back at the flames consuming the factory behind her.


End file.
